FOUR MOTHERS

This fervent first novel, set in Jerusalem, traces the experiences and emotions of five generations of women “cursed” by the disappearances of their husbands after they’ve borne daughters. Among the matriarchs preceding Amal (who gives birth to a boy, and thus perhaps the end of the curse), the most vividly drawn are Sara, a legendary beauty who is also a famed healer, and her daughter (and Amal’s grandmother) Pnina-Mazal, a hopeful scholar (not unlike Isaac Bashevis Singer’s “Yentl”) also gifted with psychic powers. Though its credibility is vitiated by more than a few too many melodramatic crises, this is a lively, reader-friendly tale effectively flavored with atmospheric detail and fascinating chunks of Israeli folklore and myth.